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MD-in-training uses business to think beyond the operating table

UBC Sauder’s nine-month Master of Management (MM) gives ambitious candidates like Karan D’souza the business acumen to enhance their non-business Bachelor’s degrees and gain an edge in a competitive market.

Med school candidate and MM alum, Karan D’souza has long had his sights set on a career in healthcare.

“I want to be a leader, not just a surgeon, which I’d ultimately like to become, but someone in administration,” says Karan. “That’s why I wanted a solid business background – to apply it to my career in healthcare.”

Prior to pursuing his Master of Management at UBC Sauder, Karan had little formal experience with the business world; he spent his undergraduate years focusing on neuroscience and microbiology.

Still, he’d gained some experience through a student leadership conference where, as the external relations director, he was involved in everything from marketing and sponsorship to managing the conference’s finances.

“I’ve had these interesting touch points with business but I’d never actually studied it,” he says.

UBC Sauder’s MM program finally gave him that opportunity.

In the nine-month program, Karan was surprised to find himself feeling right at home.

“Ann Stone’s marketing class taught me to look at the discipline in a way I never thought I would,” he says. “She made me realize marketing is data-driven decision making. There’s a science behind it and that brought my science background to the foreground.”

UBC Sauder’s MM program is known for the diversity of its cohorts and Karan’s was no exception.

“I was learning alongside people who were from every faculty – from computer engineering to political science,” he says.

“In the MM program, I wasn’t just learning about business, I was learning about different ways of thinking and how that works in a business setting.”

To learn how to leverage his own skills, Karan turned to the Hari B. Varshney Business Career Centre (BCC) where he found the support to become a better interviewee and create a more succinct CV.

“The BCC helped me figure out how to put my best foot forward for any position I’ll apply for throughout my life,” he says.

Now in med school at UBC, Karan has been using the skills he gained in his MM to explore streamlining healthcare systems.

“We’ve looked at how our patients flow through the hospital and how we can optimize that,” he says. “I’ve been able to take the concepts I learned in my MM and apply them to medicine.”

This thread of leadership and service is also woven throughout his volunteer work; Karan has been involved in academic decision-making for UBC and has been a student representative on half a dozen committees.

“The MM program has given me the foundation to achieve my goals,” he says. “It’s given me the confidence to go into a room and address significant issues, think creatively and see the big picture.”